Manchester United have confirmed the signings of young duo Samuel Lusale and James Overy - but await the arrival of Arsenal wonderkid Chido Obi-Martin.
United had been waiting on the Premier League and FA's approval to welcome both Lusale and Overy, who'll go into the Red Devils' academy setup. Lusale is a talented winger who arrives from Crystal Palace after turning 17 last week.
Born in Guildford, the teenage prospect has represented Slovakia in youth international football and also has Zambian roots. As for Overy, the Australian right-back, who's also able to play further forward, comes in from Perth Glory.
The 17-year-old became of interest to multiple Premier League clubs after catching the eye while starring for Perth Glory's senior team in a pre-season friendly against West Ham, the MEN report. United have now won the race for Overy, just as they've done for Obi-Martin.
The highly-rated striker is just 16 and chose to leave Arsenal this summer amid keen interest from German clubs including Borussia Dortmund. Old Trafford chiefs are still waiting on approval from the Premier League and FA, although it's understood that there are no major issues and his move could be completed imminently.
Once his arrival is finalised, Obi-Martin will be able to train and play for United's youth teams, just like Lusale and Overy now can. The Dane made headlines when he scored 10 goals for Arsenal's under-16 side in a single game against Liverpool back in November, although he wasn't convinced that he had a pathway to the Gunners' senior team.
That allowed United the opportunity to pounce and reach an agreement in July. The Red Devils snapped up a host of young talents over the summer, notably paying £1million for 18-year-old Malian midfielder Sekou Kone on transfer deadline day, another player who'll go into the academy setup.
That brought their summer spending to £182m, having also welcomed Joshua Zirkzee, Leny Yoro, Matthijs de Ligt, Noussair Mazraoui and Manuel Ugarte to join Erik ten Hag's side. But United aren't anywhere close to being satisfied, with new CEO Omar Berrada saying: "We need to be doing more of what we have done in this window.
"We have addressed priority positions that were identified very early on and we were able to do it in a financially sustainable way. I think [sporting director] Dan [Ashworth] and the team did a fantastic job in the negotiations process."
blogpay
Total Comments: 0